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Attacks against journalists in Pakistan: Facts and Figures

Total number of interviews with journalists and other media workers – over 100.

According to Amnesty International’s research, at least 34 journalists may have been killed as a direct consequence of their work since democratically-elected government was restored in March 2008.

Only in one case have the perpetrators been convicted, the 2011 killing of Geo TV correspondent Wali Khan Babar, and even in this case there were serious concerns about fair trial issues.

Since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed government in 5 June 2013, at least 8 journalists have been killed across Pakistan as a direct result of their work. These include 6 journalists killed in 2014.

Of the 34 killings since 2008, 9 took place in northwestern Pakistan (the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

12 took place in Balochistan province, and of these 6 happened in the province’s second town Khuzdar.

Amnesty International investigated 73 cases for this report, in only 2 of these have the perpetrators been convicted – Wali Khan Babar and the 2002 killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Of these 74 cases, police or other authorities carried out an initial investigation in 36 cases, and in a handful of incidents victims or their families receive security protection, compensation or other assistance from the state.

Total incidents investigated by Amnesty International

Number of these incidents investigated by police or other state authorities

Number of incidents in which court proceedings brought against alleged perpetrators

Number of convictions of perpetrators in these incidents

73 incidents*

37

6

2 (Daniel Pearl and Wali Khan Babar)

*For the purpose of this statistics we use incidents rather than number of individual cases, as one journalist can suffer multiple incidents of harassment, attack, etc against them at different times and by different perpetrators.